The Co-Supervision Process in Pre-service Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Teacher Education: Development of a Flexible Model Adaptable to Different European Countries

Abstract

Integrated into the cross-border teacher education movement, a flexible model of co-supervision was developed and piloted involving 14 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teacher educators and 13 of their pre-service teachers from eight European countries, within the context of the Erasmus+ project “AcaSTEMy.” The study follows a qualitative and interpretative approach and presents the validation of the flexible model of co-supervision to understand not only its potentialities for pre-service teachers’ and teacher educators’ professional development, but also to discuss its degree of cross-national applicability. All participants answered an online questionnaire at the end of each co-supervision event, and one representative of the teacher educators of each country wrote a guided reflection. The findings highlight a central tension within this type of co-supervision process, having the potential to enhance both pre-service teachers’ learning, fostering critical reflection and promoting some skills development, and supervisor professional development, facilitating peer learning and professional networking. However, its success depends heavily on organizational structure, clarity of roles, and support for intercultural communication. In the end, the study presents some suggestions for the design of international co-supervision models in teacher education, so that co-supervision can promote both academic excellence and internationalization in higher education.